[cake] Batter Up!

So I think about the restaurant industry quite often and I also think of analogies quite often. (I think it's a teacher thing) Anyway, it came to me one night that the restaurant world is parallel to Major League Baseball. Hear me out.

In the MLB you have two leagues: National and American and in the culinary world you've got your East and West coast restaurants. Each team is an actual restaurant (front and back of the house) and guess who the players are? You got it: the chefs. The big time players like your A Rods and your Barry Bonds are the executive chefs and sous chefs. The other not so popular players are the line cooks. They got a couple more season-ings to go before they gain the rep as the big timers.

And all the cooks and chefs want the same thing: their own baseball cards worth top dollar. If the chefs can make it to a baseball card worth mucho $$ then other owners will scout them out for a trade to a better team, offer them more money and make their baseball cards (aka repertoire) worth more. And the stats of each players are like the stars each restaurant has that the chefs and cooks all take claim in earning. The better your stats the better your restaurant. Right?

With me so far?

Good.

Then of course there are the coaches, the ones who teach and inspire and in the culinary world-that's the owner of the restaurant. The one who wants things done his way- and he's earned it. He has put in his time as a line cook running all the bases and earning the appropriate stats. The owners of the teams would be equated to the investors. They have all the $$$, but hardly any of the glory (or talent for that matter).

And what is a baseball game without a stadium? The stadium you see is the actual physical restaurant building. Wrigley field, and Yankee Stadium would be compared with Jean Georges and The French Laundry. The parking attendant tells you where to park your car, just like the hostess tells you which booth to park your a$$ in. Inside the stadium you need beer first so you you buy a cold one from the bartender behind the counter. And you cannot complete a true baseball game without a hot dog and peanuts-and who better to deliver to you than your server? The ones enjoying the game,the true fans, the ones oohing and ahing all over the place, the ones paying top dollar to see the chef-players perform, those are the restaurant patrons.

Now there is one more comparison I have to make. The personal trainers. They make sure the players are able to play at their best abilities, they save the players when they get a boo boo, they make suggestions and they have a close personal relationship with the players. Those would obviously be the chefswives. Yes, ladies we are the personal trainers in the world of chef-baseball. We heal them when they cry, we medicate their cuts, soothe their burns and get them in the best condition to play nine innings just to come home and do it all over again.

DCW_NYC

-H-